Story of a lost AI
by Shadzninja
Summary: [Brave Police J-Decker] Deckerd is still gone after the Chieftains beat the Braves. Regina and Duke's arrival was not a welcome one, either. Even if Duke hides behind Regina's training to be "the perfect policeman," he can still feel the hate in his team towards him. But one day, it'll be too late to save Duke. And Gunmax can't help but sneak around since Shadowmaru is still hurt.
1. All Power Joe

**Wow, my first Brave saga fanfiction and the sad thing is, I've the Braves for some time and I haven't writen SQUAT! **

**Okay, this is after Deckerd is done and gone and Duke has just come to the light. Can anyone else see how mad Power Joe is at Duke! I imagined the whole time that Power Joe was going to ambush Duke in the hall and... do something. So, this came to my mind. Everyone knows that Gunmax isn't the nicest person on base and he's kind of demanding but now, he's going to learn a thing or two about abuse.**

**Sorry Power Joe fans, it'll get better (I think)... QwQ**

**Brave saga © Takara (Hasbro's Japanese counterpart!)**

Gunmax mentally sighed as the normal activities of the Comand room played out like any Sunday. Power Joe and Dumpson arm wrestled and McCrane polished his rifle as he growled every time Power Joe got his arm slammed down harder each time he lost, which was a lot. Drillboy sat on his small desk and bounced a soccer ball with either his hands or with his foot on the floor and he would eventually try basketball finger-spinning his soccer ball on his pede and just watched it spin. He saw Yuuta with his head down on his desk that over looked the room on the humans balcony.

Poor mini boss. Not a a day or two ago did they loss Deckerd to the Chieftain twins. Those two fuel snatching fakers decided to drag themselves out of whatever hole they thrived from and go on a killing spree for J-Decker. They had attacked Shadowmaru and almost killed him if it hadn't been for Seia (thank the Super A.I. gods because she leads to Navy...), Shadowmaru would have drowned in the ocean and drained of all his special oil in the salty water, slowly sinking to the abyss of the reef. And they had the nerve to kick Gunmax's aft too! It was frustrating! He barely got to the fight and even then, his bike was so bad, he thought about just running there if it hadn't been for the fact he couldn't move much.

And then their was Deckerd's murder...!

No. Gunmax didn't go there. He wasn't going to bring it up, he was to fond of Deckerd to get mad at his death. Gunmax had a respect for the blue cop car ever since Deckerd had hand cuff themselves together... Long story, involving Gunmax being framed for a previous partners crimes, Gunmax's mood swings and constant disappearing (he was just driving laps around the city), and Deckerd being one of the only ones to _truly_ believe in Gunmax's innocence (everyone was spectacle, okay?) and Deckerd smacked cuffs on him. When they were in that forest... they became... friends? Brothers by oil barrel? It was fun tricking that hillbilly old man that they were "confiscating" his oil for tampering in supplies at "the factory!" Good times...

And now, they give Gunmax the worst felling in his... everything. From his pede, through his body, in his tanks, in his neck cables, and to his Super A.I..

Gunmax still couldn't believe moral was so low... in the board room, it actually looked like a normal Sunday night. Dumpson and Power Joe actually being entertaining (to themselves mostly), McCrane polishing that old rifle of his, Yuuta sulking because he had school tomorrow, Shadowmaru off doing whatever-it-is he does, and Deckerd on last night patrol. But it couldn't be more difficult. He knew Dumpson and Power Joe were venting under hushed breaths as they wrestled, McCrane was polishing a deadly weapon (focusing on no one but a deadly weapon), Yuuta was mourning for Deckerds death, Drillboy wasn't enjoying anything his mostly prized soccer ball could give (he had his special one sighed by _every _person and/or robot he trusted on base), Shadowmaru was still in a dead sleep while the engineers fixed him up, and Deckerd was under the control of that stupid eye rock alien that had a metal fetish!

Another long story...

Gunmax stopped staring at everyone when McCrane glared at him and he stopped polishing that metal and wooden stick to reload the rounds within the barrel. Good, why not go to the shooting range next?

Just as he was about to get up and leave, the newcomer and self-proclaimed "leader" of the Brave Police, Duke "Knight" came walking in with all his glory. If your wondering how the Brave Police got an ambulance on their team (an ambulance knight, no less) then listen close. Not barely thirty seconds after Deckerd died, a pristine and curvy ambulance pulled up and a blonde lady with a black body suit and a tiny red shirt over the suit got out of it and helped them chase off the Chiefains. The ambulance was very attractive he must say but the moment he was sitting in Deckerd's seat and telling them it was a simple "leaders" seat was very alluring. He kinda liked this mechas moxy.

When he walked in, the room went cold and silent. He went straight for the fire truck in the back of the room (had they forgotten that big red room pile on?) but he had to walk past a glaring Simpson, a growling Power Joe, a practically-oblivious McCrane, and a saddened Yuuta (did he mention Yuuta hates Duke, in a lot of ways but not completely). Gunmax didn't include himself, he was telling this story right?

Duke made his way back to his combining buddy and checked something on the side of the fire truck. Duke just stared at it for a minute before he started to walk to Deckerd's seat (A.K.A. the "leaders" seat). As he made his way over, Gunmax heard Power Joe growl and he almost acted on the instinct of throwing his pistol for the fun of it. It had a homing device in it, it always comes back. But when Duke didn't take a seat, he just stared at the desks contents and searched the reports that piled up a little, he was curious.

"Why don't you sit down, throw your feet on the desk?" Gunmax asked as he leaned back in his chair for emphasis.

"That does not sound pleasing. Putting dirty limbs that are bound to be covered in mud or caking dirt on these desks, that the humans spent so long to sanitize when we leave, does not appeal to me." Duke said but didn't look at Gunmax til the next sentence, "And it's very rude. Lady has taught me better."

... Now even relaxing felt like a crime.

He felt the urge to throw his pistol again when he heard Power Joe growl and actually started to hold his arm against Dumpson's before it slammed down again. He was getting angry, Gunmax could tell now because the green optics that belonged to the power shovel were dark green but glowing with emotions. Gunmax chuckled mentally, that was a little show Power Joe's A.I. hasn't blown out yet.

"You'd all fit to join me." Duke said as he toke a random report out of the middle stack and looked over it fully.

Power Joe ripped his arm from Dumpson's grip and stood up in a rage and stomped his pede, "Really?! What would you be doing that we so _need_."

"Well, I think some of you can join me." Duke said and held the report more firmly, "Others, I recommend asking Mr. Toudou or Lady to teach you anger management or at least some respect."

Power Joe howled and launched at Duke, only to be stopped by Dumpson arm locking him and Drillboy (abandoning his ball) holding his chest just incase he wiggled away from Dumpson. McCrane forgot about his rifle entirely and stood up in between the restrained Power Joe with his brothers and Duke. Yuuta stood up quickly but didn't move in any other way, as did Gunmax.

"You piece of scrap metal!" Power Joe yelled to Duke as he returned to reading the report and apparently the newspaper that went along with it, "How could you just stand there and act like you didn't do anything?!"

"Because I didn't," Duke said and gathered his papers, "I merely suggested what you truly do need. I didn't want you to actually prove that you need it."

Power Joe cried out again and fought against two out of three of his brothers even more as Duke began to leave with what he came for. Gunmax met Duke's face when he left (not really met because Duke didn't look in his direction), and he saw just before his visored optics couldn't see Duke's own optics, that Duke's plain and emotionless orange optics turned a sad and distressed yellow. Gunmax would have pointed it out if (oh, he knew this was making it worse) Power Joe screaming revolting things after the ambulance.

"You giant wast of metal! Running back to your tiny, creepy corner in the base where trash ends up!" Power Joe just kept going and going, "Running back to the your little British master so she can find a new flaw in your head and make you more of a bastard! You-!"

"POWER JOE!" Yuuta cried and when everyone turned their helms, they saw everyone standing there.

The General was frowning deeply while Toudou was whispering to him, both looking grim. Yuuta and his sisters, Kurumi and Azuki, were standing there, Yuuta crying fully and hearty tears as Azuki looked extremely pale. Seia and Ayako stood there with pure surprise and horror on their faces as the door behind them slammed and a young blonde girl stepped out. Regina glared out amongst the crowd but didn't say anything at first, Gunmax knew she must have been mad at them for distressing Duke and putting "human" inside his "perfect" A.I. Regina had made...

"I could thank you." Regina said and caused most of the room to go astonished, "But I won't."

With that note, she turned and left instantly with a huff.

Gunmax... could not believe it. Regina, the head engineer that graduated at the age of 10 from an engineering college, made Duke out of spare parts (literally) and a half made blueprint (okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration)... had just thanked them for letting Power Joe verbally abuse Duke.

After a minute of stunned silence, Ayako hit the desk with her fist and glared, "_Baka_! How dare you say such things to Duke! And how dare all of you-!" she pointed at everyone else "-bare to let Power Joe continue!"

"It's not our job to control to control Power Joe!" Dumpson said and shoved the power shovel away now that he wasn't struggling, "And Duke was taunting him!"

"Even if so, you do not retort back!" Seia stepped in, "I am a military commander and I have seen things like this in my ranks! Someone says something and the person getting spoken to gets angry and attacks the person! The beginning aggressor never gets as much punishment as the soldier who attacks him, even if he starts! And I'm sure if you had maimed Duke liked you wish, he'd just come back because of Toudou and Regina's engineering, and you'd be the one getting your A.I. refreshed!"

Gunmax didn't stay anymore after that. He was going to consult Duke, but better he left, he left on a sour note...

"I could have cared less if I ripped the Super A.I. from his processor and he slowly died under my fist-!"

**Oh my Primus, I'm so sorry! QwQ**

** I just had to and it was a nagging bug! Right now, all the Brave Police fanfictions are about smut or OC things! This idea is purely mine!**

***pets the crying readers* I apologize for the sad and depressing them, but it had to be done! = w O**

***hides from angry readers* I'm sorry! But not everything can be happy-go-lucky! Eep!**

***waves at happy readers* R &amp; R!**


	2. BOOM!

**It's time again! The absurdness of my mind is bringing up ideas... but I won't give in! I have a point in this fanfiction and I'm not turning it around! Help...!**

**Now, please, read this before I somehow need a doctor from rabid bunnies!**

* * *

Gunmax's jaw line was snapped shot and pursed in a straight line. A very bad note to land on if you were sensitive to topics like this, and Gunmax wasn't a stranger to the whole "team hates new guy" thing. He had been the new guy in the American division once and they were slightly welcoming people. Some were greedy little monsters, because he would wake up from recharge and their would be some random soldier in his quarters and they'd be snooping through his rooms contents. He could still remember his partner being the only one assigned to him that would just sit in a chair and relax and wait for Gunmax to wake up and not snoop his room.

Those days were gone. He was in Japan and with a very crippled team and right now, he was the glue that was going to fix these mechas. And going to do a pretty good job about that.

He rounded a corner and Gunmax couldn't help but think about what had happened in the Deckerd command room, that made his tanks churn just a little. He had never felt so... nervous _or_ this upset. This new guy, he was... new. He knew the new guy saw how everyone functioned and what they were the person who was in their role. At least he hoped so...

He just hoped that he could at least teach Duke about the team.

He rounded another corner and saw he was coming up to the Brave Police's engineering room and there were voices coming out of it instead of the usual sound of cutting metal and shifting feet. He stopped at the doorway and softly peaked into the room. The room was empty other then three figures, two larger then the other. The little figure on the balcony was growling and demanding things from the tallest online thing in the room. Duke and Regina. Another figure was on a slab made for the human engineers to reach the Brave Police entirely and he was just laying there. Offline. Gunmax snickered but when quiet as Regina snapped at Duke.

"I will hear no more discussion of it!" Regina said as Gunmax peaked a little more, just enough to see them entirely.

"B-but Lady! I can make a change! A difference in their perspectives!" Duke pleaded and Gunmax's actual optics widen at the emotion it was leaking, strain, "I can show them they don't need Deckerd, and that it can be different!"

"You won't." Regina said as she gripped a device in her hands, it wasn't really finished but it looked like a remote control, "They're too fond of him. You'll never be excepted into this team the way you wish."

"Lady, to be fair," Duke began again and he almost growled at the kicked puppy look Duke was giving Regina, "I...I could care less if I saw _leader_, I just want to have... a team! This isn't Scotland Yard! This is Japan!"

"That is correct. We are not in Scotland anymore."

"Thank you, Lady..." Duke sighed. It couldn't be simply over just like that by how they were going at it...

"That only means that you need to be reprogrammed." Regina began again and Gunmax winced, "The perfect policeman does not care to appeal the team. A perfect policeman does not care about where he is living and working, everything follows you no matter where you go-."

"Lady! Please!" Duke choked.

"-And the perfect policeman does not beg and whine when someone does not rule in their favor!" Regina finished and held up the unfinished device, "This machine is going to be a switch. A switch for your A.I. and only I decide when you get shut down!"

"That's not what I want, Lady..." Duke choked, "I want nothing to do with any of this...!"

The sound of running meet his audios and he pressed against the wall as Duke ran past him, his face in his servos and his running stance sloppy. Gunmax watched the distressed ambulance run and he could still here within the room he had previously been spying on. Just as he was about to run in the room, to demand what was going on, he heard a slight choke...

Gunmax frowned and then growled softly as he made his way after Duke, the ambulance couldn't have gone far.

* * *

Stupid accusation! Turns out the ambulance could get as far as he wanted when he was upset. And he was very much ready to say, "_Okay, I did my fair share of work, let him work it out on his own. I did."_

And that almost made him smack himself, he hadn't done anything and it was hard for him to claim the prize of participation when all he did was eavesdrop. He growled and smacked his face, avoiding his visor to avoid dramatic stupidity, and slowly moved it down off his face in a gesture of stressed aggravation.

"Gunmax!" Drillboy came over frantically and in such bad hysterics that he would sometimes stumble on his words.

"Drillboy? Drillboy!" Gunmax said and tried to pay attention to the gibberish he was receiving.

"Gunmax!" Drillboy started again with the gibberish, Gunmax wanted to smack the drillformer but what he barely made out made him upset, "Duke left with Yuuta and his sisters!"

Gunmax was tempted to say, "_It could be his turn to take them home._" but he wanted to smack himself again. Duke hadn't been here for more then almost a day and half and he's pretty sure no one has had the guts to take over Deckard's job on taking Yuuta and/or his sisters home. So that meant he had to go to mini-bosses home and look for the ambulance, demand a explanation, and _stomp _all over histeammates.

He didn't listen to Drillboy anymore as he put his servo on the naive mechas face to shut him up and he made his way to his garage where his bike was waiting for the chase. What he didn't do as he turned the corner, was listen to his orange and soccer addicted counterpart.

"Wait! Gunmax-WAIT! Duke said something else! GUNMAX-!"

* * *

If it wasn't for the adrenaline in his mind and his pede and servos speeding his bike at high polarity, he would have seen the car he had made crash. He didn't care, he really didn't care right now. All he wanted to do was to catch up to Duke before anything happened without him.

He almost didn't stop when he made his destination and he groaned as a gear or a hinge broke in his bikes gyro. No way was he getting home without a tune up to his bike. He jumped off as he kicked up the kickstand and he made sure his bike stayed up on the curve before he turned around to Yuuta's house.

No ambulance in the garage.

No giant in the backyard.

No Duke talking to Yuuta or his sisters anywhere.

Where the neck could the ambulance have gone now? It was not that hard to find a simple ambulance with three familiar faces in it-!

Suddenly a cry ran out of nowhere, a high but very familiar voice crying in terror as a out explosion of a gunshot was heard, "DUKE!"

_Dammit! God freaking-!_

* * *

**Oh my, I... I just need a little help with motivation... please? /:)**

**R &amp; R**


	3. Maybe

Duke hadn't meant to go that far, Lady was probably hastening her advancements on her A.I. remote. He knew he went out of line, he knew he must have made her mad, her glares said it all.

Duke speed through the hallway and down to the garage where he knew lead to the less used entrance of the building. The Brave's garage must have been little more then able to fit Super Build Tiger and J-Decker while the two sat with a slight hunch hip to hip. But the back garage wouldn't fit Gunmax very well, it could fit Shadowmaru's wolf form just fine, because it was the humans storage for their cars and bikes. Humans storage, not ambulance bots escape route. And yet it was about to become so.

He would have stopped when orange came around the corner but he didn't. He just didn't. When Drillboy almost fell over he halted Duke as well thanks to Duke being taller, he grabbed at Duke's arms and the ambulance stopped his dash to stabilize the small mech.

Drillboy must have mistook him stopping as a sign he had helped him from falling because he smiled sadly at the Brit, "Thanks, Duke."

"Oh," Duke said and he frowned slightly as the orange mech didn't let his forearms go, "Your welcome, Drillboy. I apologise for running into you but I really must go."

Drillboy didn't let go even when Duke tugged lightly to not raise suspicion. Apparently him running in the halls after what had happened in the meeting room was a red flag. If he hadn't been running and had set a leisurely pace into the direction he wanted then maybe he would be scott free and transforming out of the back entrance by now. No suspicious looks from the little mech.

"Duke," Drillboy said lightly, "Don't take whatever Power Joe said to heart. It's just Power Joe's copping mechanism kicking in with Deckard gone."

Duke grunted but it was nothing toward the drill, just at himself for getting dragged down like this, "Trust me, I won't. Anything Power Joe "goes out the other ear" as they say. I appreciate your concern Drillboy but I really..."

Drillboy brought on a big sad look, nothing like his usual puppy dog optics but somehow this was worse, instead of simple giving in the puppy dog optics stings this... this brought unnecessary guilt to his A.I.. He had a bad feeling Drillboy was going to beg him to tell him what's wrong, or even worse, beg to walk him wherever he was in such a hurry to go. He couldn't see Drillboy walking with him casually to the back entrance and letting Duke creep out without asking why, and he didn't need the drill upset over him leaving.

"Please, Duke," Drillboy said softly, "Let me at least join you..."

_Bloody hell!_

"... Until I get where I need to be, we're only a few corners away! I want to walk with you just a little, be next to you in a way."

That actually didn't sound too bad. Drillboy had a room he had transformed into a soccer room. Ball polish, extra balls, air pumps, extra nets and beams for goals, paint for the field he practiced on. You name it and Drillboy had it. Futball maintenance was all the room was good for and it seemed the ball on Drillboy's chassis was pretty roughed up.

"Fine." Duke said with some interest, watching Drillboy perk up, "We'll walk you to your maintenance closet."

"Ah, ah!" Drillboy said letting the ambulance go, waving a finger, "The maintenance closet of _soccer professionals_, you mean!"

"Whatever floats your boat, Drillboy." Duke smiled and began walking with Drillboy right at his side.

The maintenance closet was in the same direction as the back entrance and that made Duke less upset about this walk. He had plenty to be upset about today to make this walk uncomfortable, like; fighting with whatever was left with this team, watching as crippled Shadowmaru tried some physical therapy and landing back on the berth with a heave, Lady showing him the machine that controlled his basic life, and being tailed by Gunmax for quite a while until he lost him. And that was only since the sun had gone down.

"So," Drillboy said with his arms behind his helm, "Where were you going in a hurry?"

Duke had no reason to stay silent with how bare the hall was, but had no reason to tell the truth, so he said calmly, "Fax room. Urgent notion has to be faxed and looked over with care about medical professional not getting paid their wages."

Drillboy must have accepted it because he hummed and seemed to move on with another question, expression blank, "Anything fancy happen lately? Anything you might be upset about?"

"Not that I should know of," Duke sighed, "Nothing urgent anyway. Maybe a few mothers having births in my cab as I saved them from buildings upsets me slightly but nothing else bad."

Drillboy cringed, "Aren't births messy?"

"Yes." Simple answer.

Drillboy looked at him in surprise, "Who helped you clean that out?!"

Duke hummed in thought, "Well, Lady and the generals were too busy so I think Seia and a military man cleaned and sterilized my cab."

"You _think_?!" Drillboy emphasized as they turned the first of two corners.

Duke nodded. He too was slightly upset he couldn't actually remember getting himself clean. The births hadn't been lovely, but not at all unpleasant. At least he wasn't the doctor who had to birth and control the process or the father who's hands bones popped and skin turned red as she screamed. He was glad he only had to drive her there and not help her inside...

"Well..." Drillboy said after shivering, "Are you sure nothing else bugs you? Nothing you want to tell me, or at least show me?"

"No," Duke said, "Not that I can think of."

"You sure, Duke?" Drillboy said as his tone interlaced two unknown emotions together.

"Drillboy." Duke snapped lightly and looked at the mech, "I'm fine, everything is fine, nothing is wrong and I'm sorry I have no "juicy gossip" as you call it." He looked at what was left of the hallway until Drillboy's stop and back to Drillboy, "Why are you so persistent?"

Drillboy sighed lightly and he looked at the ceiling, servos still interlocked behind his neck, "Because something is bothering me and I'm upset about it..."

Duke couldn't just let Drillboy leave off there. Duke might be the expendable part of the team, not really part of the team if you think about it, but he couldn't leave the little bot like that. Drillboy had that thing about him where you couldn't ignore him, and it had nothing to do with how the mech was orange and white with a big mouth and volume. Just, that was his presence.

"What is it, Drillboy?" Duke asked softly to his walking companion.

Drillboy stopped walking and he lowered his arms, making Duke stop in his tracks in confusion for a second. Drillboy scared realization into the ambulance with his blank look alone.

"A certain friend of mine has been lying to me since we started talking. Sound _familiar_?"

Duke almost choked with that. Drillboy continued with a light but ridged tone of voice, "He lied about fax reports, he lied about being fine, he lied about not letting a certain brother of mine's words get to him, and I think the only truth I've got out of him tonight it the fact his cab has a 50 percent chance of having pregnant lady fluids in it."

Duke mental reeled and did a double take, so Drillboy was more observant then people gave him credit for. He had noticed Duke was walking in the opposite direction of the fax machine, the fact he was hesitant to walk with him after what transpired in the meeting room, and even that the only thing that was true came out of his vocalizer easier then the lies did.

"Kudos, Drillboy." Duke whispered back to him.

Drillboy smiled and then went back to a frown to keep him composure to make sure Duke didn't pull him into a subject changer, "Thank you. Now, will I get a correct answer? Please, Duke..."

"I won't tell you the whole truth..." Duke said as he stepped in front of the soccer mech, "Maybe some of it though. You found your way around my steady lying."

"_Some_?!" Drillboy choked, "But I want to help you...!"

"And you will. Just not now..." Duke said and got closer to the mech and whispered to the startled and confused mech, "But your not the one who's going to save me from myself..."

Drillboy looked up in pure concern and confusion as Duke retreated and turned to take a few steps before he heard a beep. It was a comm link. It was too far and muffled to be his own so he watched as Duke stopped and cursed lightly. Someone must have...

"Looks like I have to take the children home, everyone is unsuitable to roam the streets with children inside them. Like an ambulance is any better..." Duke mumbled out loud and turned to Drillboy, "Sorry, you have to walk the rest yourself, I have a duty to fulfill."

Duke had disappeared for all Drillboy saw, the Little mech frozen after that. He hadn't heard it until Duke was gone but he heard hurried steps from where they- Duke- had stood a few seconds ago. He knew who it was before his teammate perimeter alert warned him who it was.

"Gunmax! _Gunmax_!" He ran back the way he came.

* * *

Duke sighed as Yuuta was carried into his driver seat unconscious, sure his sister's were awake but the others boss was who he saw everyday along with them and his sister's weren't exactly often quests to the police station. He speed out the back entrance when they were all buckled up and started a steady and relieving pace to the humans home.

The night would have been silent had it not been for Yuuta's snoring and the two girls whispering in his passenger seats about bloody knows what. He had no interest on listening in after the baby incident and he gladly just drove straight and...

"Duke," Azuki said softly, "We want to apologize for what happened today. It was so ugly..."

"Yeah!" Kurumi said louder but Not loud enough to stir the sleeping tone, "Your not the one who toke Deckard from us, your also not the one who put yourself in charge! That was all Regina-!"

"Please!" Duke said and cut off the middle female, "You'll awaken Yuuta."

"But-!" Kurumi was silent when Azuki shushed the dark hairs sister.

"Duke," Azuki looked at his dashboard with a loving and calming look, making him feel something in his A.I. that was strangely uncomfortable, "I understand what your going through..."

"Azuki..." He whispered gently as he and Kurumi listened to the oldest sister of the Tomonaga group.

"I understand because I've done this about three times." She said softly with that same bloody caring expression, "Shadowmaru and Kagero, I think his name was, were fighting with me caught in the middle. Kagero and Shadowmaru were practically brothers when Kagero went rogue and started attacking talking machines, which is how I got where I was..."

Duke listened intently, quiet but still paying attention, while Kurumi searched the seat.

"They had a falling out. Shadowmaru had a certain point of view that Kagero didn't have. Kagero was to be wiped of his memories, given new orders, and shipped off somewhere else. To Shadowmaru, that was an okay idea, he didn't need Kagero being his "shadow" anymore and this was a chance at a possibly new and better life for Kagero. Kagero didn't agree. While Shadowmaru monologue'd how much memories were data, Kagero stated his memories were more then data. Everything built from there. Kagero didn't want to forget everything he knew, didn't want to forget Shadowmaru like he was nothing...

"Because to Kagero, Shadowmaru was his Everything..." Azuki finished, tears fresh in her big brown eyes as she continued, "Shadowmaru let Kagero go and Kagero returned me. I was so tired I fell unconscious... when I awake, I got information that scared me to death..." She choked, "Kagero had been captured and tampered with... Shadowmaru had to kill him..."

Duke watched as she rubbed her eyes and smiled at him again with such love and misery he was sure it was burning his chassis...

"I had to comfort Shadowmaru when he showed up in our backyard with low fuel. He had tried to starve himself to death, would you believe it?" Azuki's voice was softer now, he couldn't understand how but it was, "But when I told him the real Kagero was cheering him on somewhere, when Deckerd showed up to retrieve a mission, he fueled all the way back up. Ready to fight..."

Duke heard Kurumi gasp softly as Azuki finished off tortuous last words...

"For him."

"OH NO!" Kurumi cried, surprisingly not stirring the boy to her left. She was looking around frantically as if Azuki's story wasn't heart touching. Either that or this item she was looking for was important.

"Ms. Tomonaga, what are you looking for?" Duke asked as he stopped at their house.

"We have to go back!" She said to Duke's dashboard before patting her dress down again, "We left our pagers for the team back on Yuuta's desk, we also left some forms we need for Yuuta's next year on the force!"

Duke made a calming noise, "Don't worry, I have no reason to rush this trip. I can drive us back and Azuki can go retrieve said items from Yuuta's desk. Okay?"

Kurumi calmed down, "Yes, thank you. I apologize for yelling so loudly..."

"No need." Duke's tone sounded of a smile while his vehicle form could not.

They set themselves back into motion as they drove down the street so Duke could get to the intersection and make a U-turn. On the way to the intersection, they stopped at a red light leading to a four-way. South (they way they came) and north were neighborhoods and houses of the city, west was small markets and local service providing places, east lead into the highways of downtown Japan. Duke Sat at that red light before making a soft noise to gain the attention of the two young adult females.

"Yes Duke?" Kurumi asked.

"What do you need?" Azuki asked alongside her younger sister.

"Azuki..." Duke said softly, timidly, "Why did you tell me such a story? About Shadowmaru and... Kagero, yes?"

She nodded and hummed, "Well, you remind me of Kagero, excluding the kidnapping and physical dispute with some one else, you are having personality problems. Or in present terms, getting along and fitting in trouble. I feel with a little niceness, maybe..."

Duke saw the green light and turned onto the intersection, the blacktop cold and sleek with fresh friction under his rolling tires. He speed down the fast lane and made way for the station.

"Just maybe... you would open up to us helping you. Maybe even to the team -?"

"OH MY GOD! DUKE, SWERVE!" Kurumi screamed and awakened her brother next to her, she tried to grab his wheel but he had full control.

Before he could ask why she had screamed once again, a large mass landed and broke the blacktop it crashed onto. A dozen cars on both sides swerved and panicked, crashing into each other, but Duke had no such luxury. He hit whatever it was in what appeared to be its leg and he tried to stop the humans from having whiplash.

Whatever it was put its foot on his roof and pressed down, making Duke's alt mode creak with strain and he grunted as the family inside him got scared. He opened his doors and ushered them out of his alt mode and they complied with his demands. The girls crawled out his right door and Yuuta out his left door. Without his door as another reason his wasn't flattened open and out of the way of protecting him, his body gave way to vents and to his cracking roof.

Suddenly, the foot lifted off of him and he didn't take the opportunity to just sit there. The tried to transform as fast as he could with such damage only to catch glimpse of the things door coming down to kick him in the face with full force.

He flew before he skid on the pavement, taking blacktop with him. He flew over a five car intersection blockage car pile on and hit two cars with their humans still inside. He laid there limp as the man and woman in each car screamed in terror as the massive force loomed over him. The being just stood over him, blocking a good chunk of the stars and blending with the empty black midnight abyss he stared at some nights. The forms optics glistened as they traced his incompetent frame...

_J-Decker_. The form was J-Decker, the big body couldn't hide those familiar features he recognized the last time they fought. The chassis. The base color clear even in the shadows. The optics burned the same even if they were under the control of an alien force. Said alien force clinging to J-Decker's body.

He quickly pulled out his pistol and cocked the revolver to make sure his ammunition was full before he shot up at his doom. Oil ran down his mouth and from the crack on his forehead, his right optic getting covered in black oil. He spit out said oil and quickly aimed up at J-Decker as the beast raised its same foot above him.

_It was going to stomp him. Like some fly it was just seat out of the air but hadn't killed..._

He pulled the trigger four times before that large leg came down at him with full force. All the while he heard the distant sound of a motorcycle revving its engine at full throttle and a human female screaming.

"DUKE! DUKE!"

Sadly, in his A.I. he knew that was the third time tonight a girl had yelled at him.

Sadly, it was the third different female who yelled at him...

Azuki had never sound so** heart retchingly horrified.**


End file.
